


October 8: "I know you do."

by Qophia



Series: Qoph's Fictober 2018 [8]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst and Humor, F/M, Ficlet, Fictober, boy i seem to write a lot of that huh, getting your lover drunk is 100 percent the best way to help him deal with his problems, referenced past zevran/rinna/taliesen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 11:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16240793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qophia/pseuds/Qophia
Summary: “You saw tonight how I turned on Taliesen. You know what we did to Rinna, he and I. Why should it not happen to you, eventually? Surely it must only be a matter of time.”





	October 8: "I know you do."

“I have _many_ sterling qualities.”

“I know you do,” agreed the elven mage, tugging the assassin’s arm more securely across her shoulder.

“I am quite handsome to look at. I am a skilled and considerate lover. No one in our strange little band has sharper blades. I...” Zevran hiccuped. “I have very good hair. And," he waggled a hand, momentarily throwing them off balance, "I am improving at the picking of the locks.”

“All very true.” She nudged him into a left turn out of the alley with the hand at his waist.

“I... Ah! I declined to trick your fellow Grey Warden into letting me give him a tattoo of a breasted nug. Even though Oghren went as high as _thirty sovereigns_.”

“Truly, a paragon of virtue.”

Zevran swayed, and Neria hauled him back upright before he dragged them both to the cobblestones. He turned his face into her neck and sighed. She could smell on his breath the brandy she’d spent the last couple of hours pouring into him. “I am a monstrous person. You should have killed me on that road.”

“Nope.”

“Come now,” he said, head lolling away. “You saw tonight how I turned on Taliesen. You know what we did to Rinna, he and I. Why should it not happen to you, eventually? Surely it must only be a matter of time.”

“Oh please. You had that chance already—Taliesen or me. You chose me.”

“But Taliesen was—”

“Taliesen didn’t die because you cared for him. He died because he didn’t care for you enough. He could have joined us, spurned the Crows. He didn’t, we dealt with it. His fault, his choice.” She shrugged, bobbling Zevran’s head. “And now he’s dead. So unless you think his ghost is likely to make the request a second time...”

“... No.”

“Anyone else still hiding in your history who might have the same pull on you?”

She felt him shake his head.

“Well, there you go. _I_ promise not to summon and bind the spirits of your dead partners from across the Veil, _you_ promise not to go falling for someone who might tell you to kill me. Deal?”

Zevran's ribs bounced under her hand as he chuckled. “Ahhh, it is to be a deal, is it? Neria, mi amora, you always offer me the sweetest deals.”

This time she was the one who nearly stumbled. Love? Surely he didn’t mean that. He was drunk. Very drunk.

“I suppose it would be poor form for me to negotiate from such a position?” Zevran suggested. “Only I am quite intrigued as to what else I might get as part of this arrangement.” He nuzzled sloppily in the direction of her jaw.

“I got you drunk. Now I am getting you to bed.”

“Marvelous! And to think I did not even have to offer anything more on my side of the bargain.”

“To bed, _to sleep_. I will consider it a success if I simply walk you the rest of the way to the inn without you puking on my shoes. You’re not fooling anyone that you’re up to anything more strenuous.”

“Hmph.” But he didn’t argue the point.

See? Very drunk. So drunk. It was probably just the brandy. The murder and the brandy. Things would be different in the morning. Or, not different. Back to the way they had been. Amicable, good sex, absolutely no talking about feelings. But. Still. Just maybe...

Neria’s lips silently shaped “amora,” twitching with a hint of a smile as she once again pulled her assassin upright and snugly against her, and together they made their way through Denerim’s night.


End file.
